Melody of the Fates

Chapter 5.0

Sharee's breath sounded unnaturally loud in her ears as she watched the window rise. Her muscles strained from holding the bow taut, an arrow nocked and ready to launch at the first thing that came through the opening. Werim stood in front of her and to the right, creeping slowly toward the kitchen doorway. Sharee kept her aim steady and her angle such that she wouldn't accidentally shoot her brother.

She had been relieved to find that Werim had gotten the front door shut in time, but after the initial rush faded, she'd immediately thought of the kitchen window. Her mother usually threw it open when cooking and almost always left it unlocked. In fact, she had caught Werim sneaking a pie from the sill on more than one occasion. It was, perhaps, the only other way into the house besides the front door, and now it was going to admit an intruder.

Sharee focused in on her aim. Werim stood ready to pounce the moment she let fly with an arrow. The window continued its slow ascent.

Finally, the movement stopped, and Sharee held her breath. The first thing she saw was a pair of hands, one gripping the hilt of a sword. Whoever was outside was trying to leverage their body up and through the window. Sharee didn't wait to see more, she fired.

Her arrow went a bit high, glancing off the window and clattering to the floor. The hand and leg disappeared from the opening with a muffled thud. Werim rushed in and made to slam the window shut. He leaned forward and shoved his sword through first, reaching a hand up to grasp the window. Suddenly, he froze.

"Bud?" Werim asked.

Setting his sword aside on the counter, Werim reached an arm out and it was clasped by a hand on the other side of the window. He pulled backward and, indeed, the torso of his friend soon followed. Bud struggled to shimmy through the window, pulling his long sword behind him. Eventually, he flopped onto the floor, chest heaving. Werim stood above and looked down at him worriedly.

Sharee moved into the room to get a better view and gasped when she got a good look at Bud's face. He had a rather nasty cut high on his forehead that stained his blond hairline. Dried blood made a path down the side of a face blackened by soot. Bud's blue eyes were haunted, and they darted back and forth as if searching for something. Sharee set her bow on the nearby table and hurried over to grab a rag from the water basin.

"What were you doing out there?" Werim asked.

Bud didn't respond. He just started at his friend blankly. Werim frowned and went over to the open window. Eerily, the wall of black smoke again remained just beyond the threshold, roiling menacingly. He looked at it for a moment before slamming the pane shut and locking it in place.

Sharee wet the rag, and then knelt down next to Bud. She helped him into a sitting position and began to gently wipe the dried blood off his face. His eyes settled down a bit, but they were still tinged by despair. Sharee noted that Bud didn't look at her as he stared forlornly into the room.

Window secured, Werim set his and Bud's swords on the table next to where Sharee had left her bow. He also went and picked up her errant arrow. Thumbing the tip, he recoiled when he found it still sharp, then set it next to the other weapons.

Werim turned his attention back to his friend. "Hello?" he asked. "Bud? Are you with us?"

"They killed..." Bud trailed off, meeting Sharee's eyes for the first time.

Something Sharee saw in them caused her to pause in her ministrations. His gaze was laced with pain, and she couldn't help but feel trapped by the stare. She didn't know what else to do, so she put a consoling hand on his shoulder. Something awful had clearly traumatized her brother's friend.